WALLOPS, Va.- NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is hosting the Guardian Shield 20-02 flight exercise with multiple United States Air Force aircraft, with training having gotten underway Sunday, Sept. 20.
According to Wallops Flight Facility, the Air Force flight activity will include numerous F-16s and L-159 jet aircraft, happening between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. everyday. The exercise has a primary focus from 10 a.m. to noon between Sept. 22-25.
The exercise, led by the 121 Fighter Squadron, will be the largest live-fly cruise missile defense exercise of its type and showcases new technology designed to counter the most modern of threats. This exercise marks the culmination of months of planning between numerous Federal government organizations including the Air Force, the Atlantic Test Range and the United States Navy and NASA.
According to Meteorologist Mike Lichniak, people on Delmarva might not see the planes but they will hear them if they are close enough. Lichniak says it's just the Ocean City Air Show when you can hear the sonic booms from the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels.
That is when the planes literally break the speed of sound.
Mike explains it this way: when the sound moves downward, it permeates down and with the right conditions the sound could be very loud. The colder weather could have an effect, making the noise louder than usual.
Wallops says this cross collaboration highlights the value that Wallops Flight Facility provides not only to the space launch community but also the larger Department of Defense community.
